Fused
by Insomaniac
Summary: Hey kit, you're gonna die. Wanna live?
1. The offer

A/N: What? Another story? Why don't you work on the other one first? Look at bio 'cause it's pretty for disclaimer.

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"So how was your day at the academy, Naruto?" 

He thanked the woman who brought him tea while Naruto ranted on how poorly everyone treated him, how many bowls of ramen he ate, and the asked question. Things were actually starting to look up for Konoha; the war with Hidden Sky was starting to come to a close and they were starting to recover from the Kyuubi's last attack.

He took a sip of the tea and a cold shiver followed immediately by a burning sensation rippled through his body. He reached for the napkin the serving women had handed him along with the tea. Words started to bleed into the napkin

_Hello Sarutobi-sama. How do you like my new poison? It allows people to see certain invisible substances clearly. It also has a taste incredibly similar to green tea. Simply put, if you can read this, you're going to die. Not even Tsunade could remove this poison with ease. I do hope that you spend your last minutes regretting choosing that other inferior over me as your successor. You will see how wrong you have been all these years. _

_Konoha will be mine._

Waves of pain spread from his chest outward. He looked up from the note and saw Naruto still talking, oblivious to Sarutobi's peril. He realized that the villagers would see him dead with Naruto still in the room. It would result in death and chaos. Numbness spread to his fingers and up his arms. He couldn't feel his legs either. Naruto stopped talking for a minute. "Hey, gramps, is there anything wrong?"

He had to tell him to run as far as he could from Konoha. Even then, his chances of survival would be extremely low. But any chance was better than none. "Run, Naruto. As far as you can. I'm sorry I couldn't help you." He felt one last wave of pain before the darkness.

Naruto saw the old man fall from his chair. He ran around the desk to check on him. He hoped that the Hokage was just trying to play some joke on him. But the old man almost never joked. "Hey, are you okay?" He never responded. Naruto rolled him over on his back. He wasn't breathing. Naruto put his head to the Hokage's chest. His heart wasn't beating either.

Someone knocked on the door. "Hokage-sama, I have brought the reports that you asked for." Silence . "Hokage -sama?" The chuunin opened the door. Naruto was kneeling over the Hokage's dead body.

"Hurry! You gotta help him. He just suddenly fell over and-"

The chuunin started to back away. Once he was out the door, he broke into a run. "Somebody help! The demon killed the Hokage!"

"It wasn't me!" He tried to justify himself, but the nin was already gone. Soon the whole village would think that he killed the Hokage. Naruto jumped out the window. Running through the Hokage tower after that idiot would be suicide. His few lessons to becoming a ninja helped him reach the ground safely.

"Over there! The demon is over there!"

Naruto ran in the other direction of the voice. Why did they call him demon? What did he do wrong? Another group was headed his way, so he took another turn into an alleyway. The streets were empty on the other side. He ran out of the alley.

A kunai lodged itself into his leg. He fell on the ground hard. He looked up and two red eyes with three commas in each stared back. _Sharingan_.

"Good job, Itachi. As expected of my son." Another Uchiha appeared behind him. A crowd was gathered now, every one of them ninjas. He tried to get up to run away, but the first one named Itachi drew an ANBU sword and cleanly sliced off Naruto's right arm. He clutched the stub of what was his right arm and screamed.

Itachi acted as if those screams never existed. "Uzumaki Naruto, you have been accused of the crime of killing the Hokage. By the unanimous agreement of the council of Konoha, I hearby sentence you to death." He brought his sword downward and darkness engulfed Naruto.

When Naruto awoke, he was in a large chamber with a cage in front of him. He noticed that the candles on the stone walls were flickering, but there was no wind "Where am I?"

"You are here. We are in that seal that was placed upon your belly when you were born." He spun back around and looked at the cage. He saw a very vague outline of some kind of large animal. "Come closer."

He took a few steps forward. Inside the cage was a large demon fox with nine tails. He remembered reading about the same beast in a story book. "Kyuubi..." he murmured.

The large fox demon smiled. "Hey, kit, you're gonna die. Wanna live?"

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Review, s'il vous plait.  



	2. Decision to live

A/N: Well, that was quick, considering the pace I update at...not really. Read.

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"Hey kit, you're gonna die. Wanna live?"

Naruto gaped up at the fox. "What do you-" he suddenly remembered what had happened before he arrived in this strange chamber. "I'm going to...die...? But I can't die! Not yet! I have to become Hokage and... and..."

The room got dimmer. Kyuubi glanced around and continued in a soothing voice. "Yes, you will die very soon. But I can make it so that you don't." Naruto looked up. "All I need you to do is open the cage. I can't do it myself, but you can. Just remove the seal and open the door."

"That's it?"

"Yes, just open the door and I'll take care of the rest." Naruto pulled off all the seals from the door. He then opened the door. "Excellent..."

Once the door was fully opened, Kyuubi lunged at Naruto. Naruto screamed.

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Itachi wiped his sword clean before putting it away. Killing weaklings in such a manner made him feel sick. _Then how was he able to kill the Hokage so easily? Is everybody in this village so weak?_

He heard a collective group of gasps and turned back around. The brat was standing even with multiple wounds on his body. He then let out a primordial yell that sent a shiver down even Itachi's spine. All of his wounds started healing at a rapid rate. Nine tails erupted out of his lower back in a bloodied glory, the wounds healing instantaneously But most surprising was Naruto's right arm. Something seemed to be coming out of there too. After it was done, the head of a fox, fur matted with blood as if it had crawled out, replaced Naruto's former right arm. All of the ninja's, Itachi included, drew their weapons. Naruto closed his eyes. When he opened the again, the cerulean blue was blood red.

A ninja from the crowd charged at Naruto. The man made it within ten paces of him before he was cut in half, then in four by the tails. Others charged in groups, but none of them had made it any closer than the first person. Naruto pulled the kunai out from his leg and the wound healed. He looked towards Itachi.

Ninjas started rallying to Itachi's position. Most of them were other Uchihas. All of their Sharingans were activated. Naruto charged them.

Two by two, Naruto mowed them down with his tail and sometimes with the kunai he was holding. Soon all that were left were the father and son who had initially executed him. Or had tried to. Both were heavily wounded. Naruto smiled. "I think I should return this." He threw the kunai with inhuman strength at Itachi.

Somehow, the father got in between Itachi and his kunai. It went through him and it nearly went through Itachi's left arm.

"Hmph. Stupid old man. Got in the way of my kill." He took a step forward and the elder Uchiha was sliced into a dozen pieces.

"Father!"

Naruto looked to the source of the outburst. A small Uchiha was fighting against the hold of his mother in the doorway of a house. "Let go! I'm gonna kill the bastard that killed father!" Naruto recognized that face. _Sasuke... That was his father..._ He clutched his head. All of the things he had just done became aware to him now. "Kami, what have I done..." He ran straight out of Konoha, tails blocking any incoming projectile.

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"...Fortunately, there was minimal damage to the village and no civillian casualties. However, there were many casualties of nins, especially from the Uchiha clan. Over half of their active nins were either killed or severely wounded." The chuunin flipped to the front of the report.

"Severely wounded? I heard the demon killed every ninja in sight before running away."

The chuunin glanced up from her report. "There was one survivor from Naruto's attack: Uchiha Itachi." Several murmurs went through the room. She continued. "Other casualties include twenty others, excluding the Uchiha. They are-" A ninja burst through the door of the council room.

"Sirs, there has been a kidnapping at the Hyuuga compound." Council members murmured between themselves surprised.

"Who was kidnapped and by who?"

"We believe that the kidnapping was done by the foreign diplomats from Lightning Village. And the heir to the Hyuuga clan, Hyuuga Hinata, was kidnapped. Her branch house guardian, Hyuuga Neji, was found paralyzed in her room. Several of the Hyuuga nin went after the wagon carrying the diplomats, who left soon after the attack through the gate on the other side of the village."

"We should send other nin to assist them. They will do anything to get their hands on the Hyuuga bloodline limit and most likely use it against us." Several of the Hyuuga clan members nodded their heads in agreement.

"But what should we do about the Kyuubi? We should be concentrating all our resources on the capture and destruction of it. You saw what it did to a handful of ninja. It should not be released into Fire Country territory." The councilmen argued. There was an explosion in the west. Several minutes later, a white-eyed runner entered the room.

"Requesting medical assistance. The wagon we tracked and followed was a decoy rigged with explosive tags. The enemy has found some way to shield themselves from the Byukagan."

"Request granted. We will halt the pursuit of the Kyuubi for now. The recovery and execution of those Lightning village traitors should be our priority. They have made a grave insult to Konoha." Most of the council members nodded their heads. A few grumbled in protest. "You are all dismissed." The chuunins bowed and left the room. "We will now discuss who shall be chosen for the next Hokage."

"Don't bother."

Everybody looked at the two ninja that entered the room. "Who are you? This is a private discussion. Nobody is allowed in without the consent of all the council members."

The taller newcomer smiled as he made a hand seal. "I'm the next Hokage."

Nobody raised any sort of protest. They couldn't. They were all dead.

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After his father's funeral, Sasuke was deep in the woods training himself to his limit. "Father... I'll kill that stupid bastard who killed you. He will pay." He tripped and fell from physical exhaustion. He forced himself to get up and shouted. "I'll kill you, Uzumaki Naruto, if it's the last thing I do!"

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	3. Sruvival

Two updates in one night? I must be crazy. This one hasn't been active in a while (well, I haven't been active in a while). I blame it all on laziness.

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A middle-aged man sat in a ramen stall, eating with chopsticks in his left hand. He wore a long, shabby cloak that covered his body and a cloth mask that covered the lower part of his face up to just under his eyes.

'I know it's cheap and all, but do you have to eat it all the time? Can't we get something like rice or udon?' The man didn't seem surprised or bothered by the voice that only he could hear. 'Shut up, I like ramen. It's mostly my body, so deal with it. Anyway, this is where our customer agreed to meet us.'

'If I had known the outside world would be like this, I think I would've stayed in my cage. At least I don't have to deal with your disrespect as often.'

For a normal person, this internal exchange would have been strange. But for Uzumaki Naruto, the boy who had run from Hidden Leaf five years ago, this was his life.

At the moment, his still boyish appearance was changed into that of a middle-aged rouge ninja. However, he was not hidden under a normal henge; the technique actually physically altered his external appearance instead of masking it under chakra, making it harder to detect. But he could only make basic sructural changes, unable to hide his very defining features, including his blond hair and whisker-like scars. Because of the loss of his right hand, he wasn't able to do more advanced techniques that required hand symbols, but he gained a far greater power: the Kyuubi, who had instructed him how he could fully use their power out of need for survival and boredom.

Naruto had long finished his twelfth bowl before his client arrived. An older man had the appearance of a drunk, but Naruto could sense the aura of caution around the person. He sat on the stool next to Naruto. "I thought you said you would take care of the privacy of this place, but it's full of people." The other man had a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Naruto ordered his thirteenth bowl, brushing off the other man's comment. "You want one too? You should, they're free." The other man took a closer look at the vendor and realized that Naruto had taken care of the privacy of the place; the vendor's eyes had a very slightly unfocused look, and a glance at the other patrons proved to have the same. 'I could not even detect such a genjutsu. What kind of technique is this man using?'

Slurping down the rest of his bowl, Naruto added it to his small collection. "Let's get to business." He turned to face the man. "What do you want me to do? And remember, I don't come cheap."

The man gave a shudder at the look in Naruto's eyes: in them he saw blood, fire, and destruction. He swallowed. "We would like you to infiltrate Hidden Sky and retrieve for us a certain scroll." He showed Naruto a picture. It was very old, many of the outer designs and markings on the faded blue parchment nearly faded away. You could almost make out the design of a dragon, and it was wrapped shut with a simple whie cloth, a seal written on it.

"Huh, that's it? You sure you don't want me to kill anybody on the way?" As far as jobs went for him, this was quite simple; he had infiltrated several of the other hidden villages, but this was the first time he was going to sneak into one of the big five.

"That's fine, this scroll should give you enough trouble." He gave a 'you'll-know-when-you-get-there' sort of look.

"What's in it?" Naruto studied the picture carefully. Though he wasn't that interested himself, he knew that there would be a few decoys.

"We can't tell you that, but if you're worried about duds, here's a simple test." He took out a piece of paper. "This is similar to the material that the scroll is made of." He then set fire to the piece of paper.

The fire burned for a few minutes, and then extinguished itself, leaving the paper completely unharmed.

"The material is fireproof, waterproof, tear-proof and cut-proof, with the exception of a blade that we make that can cut it."

Nodding, Naruto went over the last, and most important, term to the agreement. "Payment."

The man pulled a bag out of his top. It was stuffed, and inside were pure gold pieces. "That's the advance. The rest of the payment will be ten-fold of that once you bring us the scroll at the place specified in the bag. You'll have one month, starting tomorrow."

"Okay, I accept."

The man nodded. "Good." He stood up and left. Once he stepped outside the stall, he resumed his drunken stupor.

Naruto stayed behind and finished ten more bowls before getting up. He opened the bag and put two gold coins on the counter. Then he, too, stepped outside and disappeared.

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Outside of the village and in the safety of his own encampment, Naruto reverted his appearance back. Though he could keep his disguise on as long as he wanted, he secretly feared forgetting his own face, and spent as much time in it as possible. He also dropped his cloak and lowered his mask so it bunched up around his neck. Long gone was his orange jacket and matching pants, which he had outgrown almost immediately. His undershirt was black, right sleeve torn to shreds when the Kyuubi had to go through. He wore a vest of deep red, the only other shirt Kyuubi would agree to. He had a pair of black cargo pants, tapered at the shin with red cloth shinguards and a pair of off-white socks. Kunai holster and back pouch were standard. He also had to buy a pair of less-expensive straw sandals, stained as dark as they could get.

The kyuubi was wrapped in bandages in a way that would be easy to remove if in battle, in case the cloak was to be moved in any way that would reveal his former right arm (the kyuubi had only accepted this after a guard requested that the boy reveal what he was hiding under the cloak. The move had almost blown their cover.). The kyuubi growled, and Naruto released the bandages covering the fox's head. Naruto's tails were wrapped around his body, covering important organs and sensitive areas that would be dangerous to leave exposed. For now, he stretched them out, working out the kinks and knots from leaving them in an awkward position for so long.

Recovering his sac from a patch of grass laden with traps, he checked his supplies. _They should be good for another week, at least. _The kyuubi worked out its mouth and shook its head. 'God, I hate that thing. Can't you wrap it a little looser?'

Naruto continued checking the area for any intrusion. 'Of course not. Any looser and the bandages would fall right off. Anyway, you have to have some punishment for leaving your prison.'

The kyuubi snorted. 'Prude. If my life wasn't directly linked to yours, I'd have killed you long ago.'Satisfied with finding no signs of tresspassing, Naruto sat down on the grass.

'Well, if you weren't a part of me, I might have actually lived a normal life. So deal with it. Your fault for escaping the Fourth's prison.' He wrapped his tails around him as a makeshift blanket. 'I'm going to bed now. Be sure to keep a lookout while I sleep.'

'I am not your personal watchdog, brat!' Naruto didn't respond. 'I know you aren't sleeping, bastard.' Still no response. 'Tch, do what you want.'

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No afterword; too tired to write one.

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